The most interesting thing about this tournament was that it was the "coming out" party for Maxime Etcheverry and Bixente Garat, talented young players who played as substitutes in the FFPB Elite Pro par Equipes Competition (more on them, including match videos for both, can be seen in the Round 4 Qualification post). Alas, in the end the experience of Aguirre and Benesse won out over the last half of the Final, with a 19-12 run at the end being decisive. But the two youngsters showed what they could do, using a 20-10 run to pave the way for them to advance to the final.
This is a current awareness blog that links to the latest sources of information on Basque Pelota matches and Tournaments. It covers all of both North and South Basque modalities: Pro and amateur. It links to match stories, statistics and video highlights and/or full match videos. !!!NEW CESTA PUNTA PRO TOUR 2024 CESTA NADAU--DECEMBER 6, 13, 20, 2024---JAI ALAI LEAGUE (EREMAN!) WINTER SERIES--OCTOBER 2024--FEBRUARY 2025!!!
This is a current awareness blog that links to the latest sources of information on Basque Pelota matches and Tournaments. It covers all of both North and South Basque modalities: Pro and amateur. It links to match stories, statistics and video highlights and/or full match videos. !!!NEW CESTA PUNTA PRO TOUR 2024 CESTA NADAU--DECEMBER 6, 13, 20, 2024---JAI ALAI LEAGUE (EREMAN!) WINTER SERIES--OCTOBER 2024--FEBRUARY 2025!!!
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Main Nue--Tounois du Jambone--1st Esku Pilota tournament of 2019
The most interesting thing about this tournament was that it was the "coming out" party for Maxime Etcheverry and Bixente Garat, talented young players who played as substitutes in the FFPB Elite Pro par Equipes Competition (more on them, including match videos for both, can be seen in the Round 4 Qualification post). Alas, in the end the experience of Aguirre and Benesse won out over the last half of the Final, with a 19-12 run at the end being decisive. But the two youngsters showed what they could do, using a 20-10 run to pave the way for them to advance to the final.
Main Nue--FFPB Championnat de France Par Equipes (Pairs)--Info About Competition--List of Winners Back to 2007--Semi-Finals
The competition begins with a round robin League in both groups. The fifth place finishers in each group are eliminated. Then the 1st place finisher in Group B plays against the 4th place finisher in Group A. The winner plays in the Group A Semi-finals as the #4 team. The loser plays in the Group B Semi-finals as the #2 team (if the A team is demoted). This is a twist that makes the competition very interesting. A Group B team has a chance to be promoted within the space of one competition. The semi-finals will be #1-#4 and #2-#3 in each group. The winners meet in Finals on April 28 (Group A) and May 5 (Group B).
Player profiles at Esku Pilota
Player profiles at Pilota Ttiki
Group A:
Augusti Waltary-Peio Guichandut (defending Champions)
Peio Larralde-Bixintxo Bilbao
Mathieu Ospital-Baptiste Ducassou (runner up and Champion respectively of recently concluded FFPB Main Nue Individuel Competition)
Julien Etchegaray-Ximun Lambert
Antton Monce-Thierry Harismendy
Group B:
Phillipe Bielle-Bixentxe Cubiat
Alexis Inchauspe (winner of Group B Main Nue Individuel)-Antton Amulet
Laurent Lambert (runner up of Group B Main Nue Individuel)-Cedric Lucu
Vincent Elgart-Mickael Palomes
Mattin-Olcomendy-Ion Iturbe
Note: Elgart and Iturbe were Group A players in the Individuel competition. Harismendy and Amulet did not play in the Individuel competition. Pascal de Ezcurra, Gregory Aguirre, and Mikael Darmendrail (all Group B Indviduel) are not playing in this championship.
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NOTE: RECORD OF PREVIOUS CHAMPIONSHIPS (2007-2018) IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.
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Qualification Round: Week 1; Week 2; Week 3; Week 4; Week 5 and Barrage: April 13, 2019: Group B #1 v Group A #4
Semi-Finals:
Finals: Group A; Group B
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Semi-Finals
Group A: Waltary-Bilbao 40 Bielle-Ducassou 23
2010: Ibarola-Ocafrain 40 Waltary-Etxeto 39 (no match video) Match article (Naiz--Basque)
2009: Ibarola-Ocafrain 40 Sorhuet-Etxeto 34 (no match video) Match article (Naiz--Basque)
2008: Ibarola-Ocafrain 40 Sorhuet-Ezkurra 32 (no match video) Match article (Naiz--Basque)
2007: Waltary-Etxeto 40 Sorhuet-Ocafrain 19 (no match video) Match article (Naiz--Basque). Agusti Waltary becomes the first non-native Basque to win this competition.
Ibarola (av) played in 5 finals and won 4 (3 consecutive wins from 2008-2010). Ocafrain (ar) played in 5 Finals and won 3.
X. Lambert (ar) has played in 2 Finals and won 1.
Iturbe (av), Etcheverry (av), and Jeannots (ar) have all played in 1 Final without a win
Pala/Pala Larga--Updated Innpala Rankings and Player Win-Loss records as of April 13, 2019--end of Mundo Parejas.
As of April 14, 2019
Player information and photos
DELANTEROS ZAGUEROS
Gaubeka 174 I.Pérez 150
Ibargarai 150
Necol 150
Fusto 138 Urrutia 138
Garate 102 Gordon 114
Landeta 90
The ranking criteria are available at InnPala at this time (scroll past the rankings, which are current).
A Google Translate version of how the rankings are derived.
The company awards diamonds (*) (1 to 3) to the championships depending on their importance, duration, etc. Note: *** ranked tournaments are the major annual tournaments, to the best of my knowledge. These would by the Liga Kutxabank (pairs), the Mundial Individual (singles), the Mundo Parejas (pairs) and the Bizkaia Open (pairs). The rankings of the summer tournaments are unknown to me at this time.
The diamonds of each tournament are multiplied by the following points ladder:
1º: 22 | 2nd: 18 | 3rd: 14 | 4th: 12 | 5th onwards: 10
In the individual world the points are awarded depending on the elimination in which each paddler has fallen
The pelotaris that do not compete in a tournament acquire as many points as the last of the competition.
* New incorporations to the company that are linked to the ranking with the palista who has the fewest points on the day of incorporation.
Player win-loss records as of April 14, 2019
Urrutia(z).....7-4..24-20...+1.....1 (L)
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As of February 16, 2019
Player information and photos
DELANTEROS (front) ZAGUEROS (back)
Gaubeka 108 Urrutia 96
Ibargarai 96
Necol 102
Fusto 84 Ibai P 84
Garate 66 Gordon 84
Landeta 60 Brefel 66
Player win-loss records as of Feburary 16, 2019
Key: Player; Position (d=delantero (front court), z=zaguero (back court)); match wins-losses; joko (set) wins-losses; winning-losing streak; championships won. Matches that are single partidos will be noted. Table will be according to match winning percentage. 1st tie breaker will be number of wins. 2nd tie breaker will be joko win-loss differential.
Championships: L=La Liga; MI=Mundo Individuel
Necol(d)...........4-1..13-6...+1...1 (L)(a)
Gaubeka(d)......1-1..5-4.....-1
Garate(d)..........0-1..1-3....-1
Landeta(d)........0-1..0-3...-1
Fusto(d)............0-3..3-9....-3(a)
Ibargarai(z)......3-0...9-6...+3...1 (MI)
Brefel(z)..........3-1..11-6..+1(a)
Urrutia(z).........1-1..3-3....-1...1 (L)
Gordon(z)........1-2..3-6....-1
Ibai-Perez(z)....0-2..4-6.....-2(a)
a=Sylvain Brefel's farewell match.
Necol-Brefel 3 Fusto-Ibai Perez 2 (8-10, 8-10, 10-5, 10-5, 10-5)
As of January 13, 2019
DELANTEROS ZAGUEROS
(Front Courters) (Back Courters)
Necol 66 Urrutia 66
Fusto 54 Gordon 54
Gaubeka 42 Ibai Perez 42
Garate 36 Brefel 36
Landeta 30 Ibargarai 30
Player win-loss records as of January 13, 2019
Key: Player; Position (d=delantero (front court), z=zaguero (back court)); match wins-losses; joko (set) wins-losses; winning-losing streak; championships won. Matches that are single partidos will be noted. Table will be according to match winning percentage. 1st tie breaker will be number of wins. 2nd tie breaker will be joko win-loss differential.
Championships: L=La Liga
Necol(d)..........1-0...3-0...+1...1 (L)
Gaubeka(d)......0-0...0-0....0
Garate(d)..........0-0..0-0....0
Landeta(d)........0-0..0-0....0
Fusto(d)............0-1..0-3...-1
Urrutia(z).........1-0..3-0...+1...1 (L)
Ibai-Perez(z)....0-0..0-0.....0
Ibargarai(z)......0-0..0-0.....0
Brefel(z)..........0-0..0-0......0
Gordon(z)........0-1..0-3.....-1
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For 2019, a table of actual wins and losses along with jokos won and lost for players by position is also available, as another way to look at how the Palistas are doing throughout the year. It includes all of the matches that I find, whether tournament or independent matches. This, along with some data for about 1/2 of the 2016-17 season is available at the InnPala Player win-loss table page on the right side of the blog. Records are kept cumulatively, match by match.
Pala/Pala Larga--Mundo Parejas--Final and Third Place Match--April 13, 2019
All matches were played at Mungia, (1)(2) the "Cathedral" of long court Pala (Pala Larga (1)(2)).
Complete tournament information (.pdf format, 12p), including match schedule and partnerships, rules of the tournament, and a listing of past winners going back to 2007. (Source: Munduko Pilota Batzarra).
The players:
Delanteros (Front): Pablo Hernan "Fusto"; Ibon Garate; Esteban Gaubeka; Dan Necol
Zagueros (Back): Iker Gordon; Xabier Ibargarai; Ibai Perez; Inaki Urrutia
Note: Garate won a 2 match play-in v Ander Landeta for the 4th front court position.
InnPala Player pages
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NOTE: PREVIOUS WINNERS SINCE 2007 LISTING HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST
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Pre-Tournament qualifying round--February 22-23 and Jornada (Day) 1, March 1, 2019 ; Jornada 2, March 8 ; Jornada 3, March 15 ; Jornada 4, March 22 ; Jornada 5, March 29; Jornada 6, April 5
Final and 3rd Place Match: April 13
Tournament preview article (Deia). Also has a feature on Ibon Garate.
Preview article (El Correo)
(10-9,
Final League phase table
Player-(match wins-losses: joko w-l, league points)
Delantero (front)
Fusto (4-2; (2-3,3-2,3-2,3-1,3-1,0-3); 320)
Urrutia (3-3; (3-2,3-2,2-3,3-1,1-3,0-3); 260)*
* Eliminated
To see the latest InnPala rankings and cumulative player win-loss records for 2019, see the InnPala player ranking and win-loss table page on the right side of the blog.
Previous Tournament Winners (since 2007)
2017: Fusto-Ibai Perez 3 Gaubeka-Imanol 2 (4-10, 9-10, 10-8, 10-8, 10-8) (43-44) BLOG POSTS THAT COVER ENTIRE TOURNAMENT; Munduko Pilota Batzarra Tournament coverage; video of final point and closing ceremony (EITB); (unfortunately, EITB has removed the full match video).